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Outraged judge lays into child welfare workers at sentencing in toddler beating death

By Karen AugéThe Denver Post

Posted:
04/11/2013 10:05:36 AM MDT

Updated:
04/12/2013 09:01:27 AM MDT

Donald Scarlett (HANDOUT)

After excoriating Adams County social services for its botched effort to protect the child, a judge on Thursday sentenced Donald Scarlett to 42 years in prison for beating a toddler to death.

Scarlett, 33, had initially been charged with murder for killing 22-month-old Michael Ryan Harris, but a jury found him guilty of child abuse resulting in death. He faced up to 48 years in prison.

Michael, who died Feb. 2, 2011, was one of 72 children who died between 2007 and 2012 after child welfare officials had been alerted that they were being abused or neglected, The Denver Post and 9News reported in a 2012 series. Michael was one of the children profiled in that series, Failed to Death, last October.

Before handing down the sentence, Judge Chris Melonakis lashed out at Adams County Department of Human Services, which he said had returned Michael and his 3-year-old brother to their mother just weeks before Michael's death, then neglected to make sure the boys were safe.

Melonakis called the county's performance "extreme malfeasance" and said they had received reports three days before Michael's death that his older brother had a "suspicious" injury. Nevertheless, social workers never took that child to a doctor, and didn't examine Michael for injuries at all.

"This child was literally failed to death," Melonakis said.

"Frankly, I think somebody should take (social workers) in front of a grand jury and find out whether their conduct was criminal."

Adams County human services officials said in a statement that they were deeply saddened by Michael's death, but added: "We respectfully disagree with Judge Melonakis' statement and believe his comments are unfortunate. Child welfare cases like this one involve many professionals who must make decisions based upon the information available to them. Decisions regarding placement of children are made by a team, including the Juvenile Court. Due to issues of confidentiality, we are unable to provide further details about the case.

Michael Ryan Harris (Denver Post file photo)

"

A state review of Michael's death reveals that when Michael was 1 year old, social workers took him and his two older brothers from their mother, Rosanna Key. The oldest of the boys went to live with his father. Michael and his older brother went to foster care.

Key admitted smoking marijuana and said her parents and roommate — who often cared for the children — also smoked marijuana and methamphetamine, according to a state Department of Human Services review.

The two youngest children, including Michael, were returned to Key four months later, after she completed parenting and substance abuse courses. By that time, she was living with Scarlett.

Scarlett's attorney, Harvey Steinberg, also laid blame for the little boy's death at the feet of Adams County social workers. Steinberg, who may be best known for representing professional athletes and high-profile defendants, argued that Scarlett had no prior criminal record and a stable work history.

Scarlett's mother, Lori Ramirez, pleaded for a lenient sentence for her son, whom she called "a loving, caring man."

But Melonakis said it was Scarlett whom a jury convicted of raining down blows so violent they severed Michael's pancreas. The force of the beating ruptured nerve endings in Michael's spine and caused his heart and lungs to stop functioning, the judge said.

After Michael's death, his mother told investigators that she and Scarlett fought over Michael's crying. Once, Scarlett accused Key of "babying" the 22-month-old.

Key told authorities she heard her son crying — screaming — from behind a door while Scarlett beat him the night before he died. She said she never opened the door and didn't check on her son all night and left him alone with Scarlett the next morning when she went to work.

Key is serving 16 years in prison for her role in her son's death.

On Thursday, Melonakis, who also imposed that sentence, said he would have given Key a longer prison term if the law had allowed it.

"Michael Harris never had a chance in life," Melonakis said.

His mother failed him, and the agency charged with protecting him "demonstrated an appalling level of neglect," and now will "hide behind privacy laws" that might shed light on that negligence, the judge said.

"Children die and bureaucrats still have their jobs," he said.

When Melonakis announced Scarlett's 42-year sentence, his mother broke down, sobbing. No members of Michael Harris' family were in the courtroom.

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